Spoiler alert: Bill Gates did not get you, because he got me.

I want to start by giving a HUGE THANK YOU to Mr. Bill Gates for an amazing gift and secret santa experience. Bill- you ROCK (can I call you Bill?! I feel like we're friends now!). I am so very, very grateful for the amazing and thoughtful gift you have picked for me! Not only is the gift PERFECT from anyone, but I am sincerely very appreciative that you took the time to find something so fitting for me. I asked for a return address to send a thank you card to whomever my "Santa" was. I see that you did not provide one so I hope this serves as a proper thank you. Regardless, I'd still love to send a personal thank you if you want to give me your mailing address!!

I did not realize my santa was Mr. Bill Gates himself until very far into this. Here's my "journey" of discovery, sorry for the length but I thought many might be interested.

My information got pulled about 3 days after elf matching was done. My santa had not messaged me, but I knew I was super thorough and have a pretty good posting history so I wasn't too worried that my santa would stiff me. Finally, I received a shipped notification to my email on Monday- I was SO SO SO excited but even more excited when I realized A) my gift was being OVERNIGHTED and B) it was 7 pounds- OMG!

Of course life is life and I wasn't able to get to the gift until this evening (Wednesday night). I decided to document my journey, starting with the box. The first thing I noticed was a stuffed animal. I didn't know I gave off the stuffed animal vibe, but I excitedly added him to my collection of teddy bears and other delightful friendly creatures. Next, I found the card. Next, I found the card. To me, from Bill. This still had not clicked, by the way, that it was Bill Gates.

I thought Bill sounded like a friendly fellow. In fact, I had this whole image of this poor guy named Bill trying to navigate my wishlist full of makeup, nailpolish, glittery things to buy me. Quite frankly I felt bad for this "Bill" since I'm a self identified pain in the ass to shop for. I finally opened the card and realized that "Bill" (I use quotes, because like I said, I still didn't realize that this was THE Bill) had donated to a charity on my behalf.

The charity was/is Heifner International. I took a break from my present to research the charity a bit, and now the stuffed animal cow made sense. I was so excited, the cause seemed really worthy and amazing, and it is the season of giving. By the way, the charity "gives families in need the right tools- such as animals, seeds, clean water, safe stoves or a chance for girls to go to school." The last part was/is my favorite, since my master's degree is in education and I am SO into educational benefits for all. It makes me so happy that he was able to donate to a charity on my behalf that helped people with both needs and educational benefits. Nailed it, Bill!

By the way, in case anyone was being nosy it does not say how much he donated to my behalf, but I can only imagine it was QUITE a bit.

But I digress, back to the gift. Still not realizing who was gifting me, I quickly opened the bulk and weight of the gift, which was an amazing and beautiful travel book, "Journeys of a lifetime." I went on and on in my likes and dislikes for my love of travel and seeing the world, and I cannot WAIT to read this. Not only that, but I love pictures and reading up on new places. This gift was perfect! I quickly flipped through it, missing the inscription, message and signature from Bill on the first page, and headed to the final part of my gift.

Once again, To me, From Bill. I opened this and it's a man holding a sign. Oh....

wait.

holy shit.

time out.

and then it finally hit me. All the presents I just tore open, the charity, then everything-- was from Bill GATES. I quickly went back to the book to see a really nice message and note from Bill wishing me a Merry Christmas and a Happy Birthday (not pictured, because I really want to keep one part of this gift to myself) my jaw hit the EVER LOVING FLOOR. I went back to all the other gifts completely shocked. Then I paused for a minute and thought, what if this is someone screwing with me. Well of course Mr. Bill Gates already thought of this and took a picture of himself with my stuffed animal and a sign and then sent me the stuffed animal and sign.

My god. Never in my entire life did I imagine, ever, ever, ever that Bill would get me. I am SO SO thankful for the time, thought and energy he put into my gift, and especially thankful for him over nighting it :)

I feel SO shocked and excited that not only did I receive a gift from Bill, but it was perfectly and EXACTLY tuned into my interests. My gosh, what a rush!! I cannot express how much I really loved reading about a new charity. By the way everyone, you should go donate too! http://www.heifer.org/

Thank you so much Bill for a fantastic and thoughtful gift. I'd really love to send a thank you card to you, but if not, I hope this post and message suffices. Thank you so much!!!!!! I will think of you every time I read my book, which will find a nice home on my coffee table once I'm done reading it.

10/10 would receive gift from Bill Gates again

ps: Sorry for the apple ipad on my wishlist, that was really awkward.

EDIT: I just got home to see this exploded on the news. To everyone requesting interviews with me, I appreciate the thought but I'm not really looking to exploit this into publicity. I've described my gift, my reactions, and my feelings as best as I can through my post and comments. There is really nothing left for me to say, except privately to Bill (I really hope I can call him that), which I have attempted to do. Merry Christmas!

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My new stuffed animal sitting in his peanuts!

My new stuffed animal sitting in his peanuts!

Heifer International- go donate!

My incredibly beautiful new book, it's HUGE!

good thing I don't need a barn... I definitely don't have one of those.

Bill holding my sign! AHH!

this book is extremely large and getting both me and the book in the picture was extremely difficult.

before I realized it was THE Bill, just thought it was a friendly fellow named Bill.

Every time you look at that cow, you will remember that a family somewhere in the world is able to feed themselves now because you chose to enter a gift exchange. That's pretty awesome! I think I'd cry.

Well, he got you a cow, which according to the website is a $500 donation - I donated baby chicks and ducklings this year, really neat organization. :)Also, I can't believe nobody has said, "HOLY COW!" yet. :D

This is one of the best thank you posts I've seen, regardless of celeb Santa status. I'm so happy that you learned about Heifer International and have taken the time to tell others to check it out too. Also, kudos to Mr. Gates for doing an appropriate amount of stalking (er, research) to make the gift even more meaningful for you. My faith in humanity is restored a little bit now.

AWWW ^_^ Bill really gets the gift of giving this Christmas. It's not what you can do for your SS but to help others in need as well. He is a great man I hear he donates to thousands of places and people in need. He even makes yearly donations to the school my boyfriend went to in Bellevue near Seattle. He's a great man I wonder who got his information to get him a gift? I think I'd buy him tea and possibly a gift card to a locate book store. He is a very knowledgeable man it would be a very hard and I'm sure that person is freaking out.

I love love love that his gift was so thoughtful, tailored to you, and charitable ... just like a regular ol person (imagine that lol!). Heifer international is amazing and I have always wanted to give through them....I might be able to afford a chicken this year lol! Thank you for sharing your experience!

well actually I can say more.. certainly a nicer and more thoughtful gift than the 6 loose computer keys and a business card promoting his computer key business I received from my secret scrooge, I mean santa! By the way secret santa person, I have a laptop and your keys don't even fit.

Bill Gates is such a cool guy. If all he had done was donate in your name, even that would have been amazing, because you'd know that it was a significant amount, and that he did it with you in mind. But it's the little touches that make this even more wonderful - the adorable plushie cow to commemorate your donation, and the photo, and the book that was tailored to your interests, so you got something fun for yourself in addition to the warmth of the donation. This just hits all the right notes. I feel happy just reading your reaction, and I wasn't there! Happy holidays to everyone, young and old, rich and poor. This is what it's all about.

aw thats so cool and sweet, I would probably not of believed it if it was me though. I think my secret santa has skipped out on me. 2 days left to ship and they haven't looked at my info since the 3rd. I think i scared them off because I said I was partially homeless. I have an address I use for mail though and i been sitting here waiting. *crosses fingers that they're just late*

you lucky girl! haha :) i always take on a new point of view about people who are in the spot light when they do things like this. it's simple, it's "normal", and it feels like he's just your guy next door who happens to be really smart xD

Wow. A cow donated in your name. That's so cool. Wow honeybees are only $30!!!! I mean they aren't showing the cost of shipping but still. This looks so cool. And congrats on the book =P You can NEVER go wrong with a book.

The PS at the end of your post is the best part. I hope my reddit secret santa present causes as much joy and excitement in its recipient as yours did, though my name doesn't have the same level of (delayed) recognition as Bill Gates. Anyway, thanks for sharing!

Amazing! I wonder who got Bill Gates as a giftee? Also, just wondering, since my secret santa signed her name Rachel, if that might out of total coincidence be you? Did you gift a Chromecast to your giftee?

I also like that Bill showed enough class at to not "out-do" those of us who couldn't afford to send our giftees fancy new expensive trinkets & iPads & cars & whatnot. he kept it humble. He's a humble person. A true man amongst men.

Rachel! Heifer International is based here in Arkansas in Little Rock. My son's ex-girlfriend volunteers there and it is an AMAZING organization! You should take a trip down to AR some day and see the home office and tour the visitor's center. My son and his ex donated a beehive in my dad's name last year for Christmas. My dad used to raise bees when I was a kid. I am SO happy for you! What a great gift.

No offense to u/wil but this is amazing! I only wish Wil would have given me a pic of him with my gift! :D Congrats and it is so cool that you can now say that you have had an interaction with Bill Gates, who I hear is a REALLY down to Earth guy! :D

Am I the only person that thinks this girl got ripped off? It's awesome that he gave somebody a cow on her behalf, but he supports that charity anyway. How about sending the girl on a trip so that she can have a once in a lifetime, enriching experience? He definitely could've afforded it. If I was that wealthy, I would've rocked her world. Sorry. Just an opinion.

@darby313: did you disclose your income and promise to give a gift worth a certain percentage of it to your giftee? I'd bet not. Leave Bill Gates' wealth out of this. He is a Reddit secret santa who gave a fabulous gift and made more than one someone happy. That's what it's all about.

How cool! What a neat experience! I'm a little curious about the person who retrieved Bill Gates as their giftee... I'm always slightly worried I will get Wil Wheaton or some reddit celebrity and totally bomb the gift.

I find it amazing that she didn't take the interviews to not publicize all this. She isn't looking to be famous for anything or be on TV. Nice gifts and helped someone for Christmas. Such an amazing thing.

I like the idea of asking someone to donate on your behalf...I thought that was pretty cool to begin with and then you were all "Hey my match up was Bill Gates" so I was all 'perfect match' 'cause he's big on philanthropy.